CLEVELAND, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Rookie Ricardo Rodriguez recorded his first major league win and Jim Thome and Matt Lawton homered Monday night to power the Cleveland Indians to an 8-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
Making his second major league start, Rodriguez (1-1) allowed two runs and five hits in 8 1/3 innings, just five days after he was roughed up by Oakland in his debut.
Rodriguez was two outs from a complete game when he surrendered a home run to Randall Simon, hit Robert Fick with a pitch and was ejected by plate umpire John Hirschbeck.
Thome's solo shot highlighted the Indians' four-run second inning and Lawton's three-run blast capped a four-run third as Cleveland won for just the fourth time in its last 12 home games.
Tigers knuckleballer Steve Sparks (8-13) was torched for eight runs and seven hits in two-plus innings. He struck out one and walked two as Detroit went down to its sixth straight loss.
Sparks had been 5-0 with a 2.27 ERA in his previous seven starts against Cleveland.
